Coty Creighton, 33, spotted the goat man Sunday during his hike. He said he came across the herd, but noticed something odd about one goat that was trailing behind the rest.

“I thought maybe it was injured,” Creighton said Friday. “It just looked odd.”

He said he pulled out binoculars to get a closer look at the herd about 200 yards away and was shocked. The man appeared to be acting like a goat while wearing the crudely made costume, which had fake horns and a cloth mask with cut-out eye holes, Creighton said.

“I thought, ‘What is this guy doing?’ ” Creighton said. “He was actually on his hands and knees. He was climbing over rocks and bushes and pretty rough terrain on a steep hillside.”

Creighton said the man occasionally pulled up his mask, apparently trying to navigate the rocky terrain. The man then appeared to spot Creighton.

We saw quite a few fine specimens on our recent trip to Malawi, including this handsome fellow:

He was hanging out near the maize storage facility in the Millennium Village of Mwandama. I blogged about that here, though it might appear my goat fetish is being replaced by simians.

We were also in the Millennium Village of Gumulira, where select households were given goats to try to recruit them to be goat lovers. I blogged about that here, including video footage of baby goats bonking heads under hanging tobacco.

On the homefront, no update on our own goat situation. We were thinking of moving to a friend’s house on the outskirts of Nairobi because they have goats, but a few nights ago they were violently burgularized, so now we’re thinking otherwise. Until that time comes, we’ll live out our goat dreams vicariously through others.

Oh, I did add some goat manure to our garden this morning, if that counts for anything?